Child of Blades
by guardsmansparky
Summary: Kidnapped as a baby, young Naruko is experimented on by Orochimaru. Rescued from the madman, Naruko will go on to prove that she is still human.
1. Chapter 1

Sentry M-00K-1337 sighed as he patrolled the empty concrete corridors of the laboratory. His was a dull existence; days spent walking a circuit around empty and poorly lit grey hallways. Some people would go mad from the tedium and wish for something, anything to happen. Not 1337 however. He was quite content with nothing ever happening. No one would blame him for feeling such a way, as the sounds he heard emanating from the secure labs on occasion never failed to give him the willies.

1337 paused by the blast doors that blocked off the laboratory's main entrance from the real world. Staring blankly at the thick, metal slabs, 1337 stepped up to them. He thought he could hear…something on the other side. Stopping in front of the doors, the sentry slowly put his ear the cool metal. Was that…hissing?

With an earth-shattering roar and a plume of fire, the blast doors were blown off their tracks, smashing against the opposite wall. Klaxons blared and ceiling mounted red emergency lights blinked and spun as smoke billowed into the corridors. Out from the choking smoke came several black-cloaked figures with porcelain animal masks. Ignoring the smear of red paste across the floor from the doorway to the crumpled doors, the masked men and women spread out and charged into the hazy science complex.

-CoB-

The guards were struggling to breath in the smoky air. From the way their eyes and throats burned, the smoke was laced with an irritant or chemicals. As the stricken guards tried to gain some semblance of order, one of them was peppered with a volley of spade-shaped knives with a ring on the end of the handle. Looking in the direction the kunai had come from, one of the guards saw a shrouded figure through the haze and his tears. As the figure coalesced, the guard's blood ran cold as he saw the animal mask.

"ANBU!" It was the last thing he'd ever say.

-CoB-

The man known as 'Newt' was a member of the ANBU, the 'dark side' elite black-ops unit from the shinobi military village of Konohagakure, located in the forested Land of Fire. Newt, so named because of his stylized newt mask, had been a member of ANBU for years, and was the epitome of professionalism. The mission he was currently on however, was personal. His unit was to find the archtraitor Orochimaru of the sannin.

Sixteen years ago, Orochimaru of the sannin was found to have been experimenting with bloodlines, using children as his test subjects. Though the snake-like man was forced to flee Konohagakure, it was too late for his victims. Of the sixty children Orochimaru had been experimenting on, only one survived. One of the dead had been Newt's baby sister, her body malformed and marred by ugly growths of diseased wood sprouting from her body and splitting her flesh. After recovering from a breakdown upon seeing her body, Newt had declared that he would not rest until the snake sannin had been brought to justice.

For sixteen years though, there had been no word of Orochimaru anywhere, until the traitor got complacent and allowed a civilian to see him. That tip had led them right to this secret lab on the outskirts of Swamp Country. Unfortunately, it appeared that the man—and Newt used the term lightly—had caught wind of them and rabbited. However, Orochimaru had left most of his research notes and materiel behind.

Newt took little comfort in that fact as he flipped through medical reports, experimental results and findings, and various other medical and scientific papers found in the traitor's personal office. Sighing, Newt put aside a report in a manila folder. Yet another report that gave no hint to Orochimaru's whereabouts or activities. Wearily, Newt picked up and flipped open another folder, idly skimming over the contents. A name caught his eye and he froze, rereading it.

Slowly, Newt reached up to his ear with a shaky hand. Tapping his ear, he activated his radio. "Dog, Captain, this is Newt, come in."

His radio hissed with static before it cleared. "This is Captain Dog, go ahead Newt."

"Captain, she's here."

The radio clicked. "Newt, please clarify. Who's here?"

Newt gave a dry swallow. "The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki."

-CoB-

Jinchuurki, a word synonymous to a terrible curse. Literally meaning the power of human sacrifice, the word referred to those who held and controlled the power of one of nine tailed beasts, the Bijuu. Shunned by society, often seen as the very beasts they held, Jinchuriki were often alone in their terrible burden.

It was not lightly then that Konohagakure had made their own Jinchuriki. However, there had been no choice at the time, as the Kyuubi no Yoko, the nine tailed fox and most powerful of the Bijuu, had laid siege to the village. Many died, and it was only through the self sacrifice of their fourth Hokage, their leader, that the Kyuubi was defeated, sealed away in a newborn baby. A baby girl by the name of Naruko Uzumaki; who had disappeared from the orphanage not a week later.

-CoB-

Dog arrived at the sealed blast doors leading to the secured labs roughly the same time that Newt did. Pulling out a slip of paper with archaic scribbles of black ink, Dog stuck it to the doors and pulsed chakra, the energy present within all living things, into it. Slowly, the ink on the paper rearranged itself, creating a rough sketch of an empty room lined with cylindrical tanks.

At Dog's command, Newt took out a similar slip of paper and placed it across the keyboard on the electronic lock. After a few moments, the lock bleeped, and the blast doors inexorably ground apart. As two more ANBU arrived, Dog ordered the frog- and duck-masked men to stand guard. Saluting, the two took their positions as Dog and Newt entered the secure labs.

Newt halted in horror as they came across the first of the containment vessels, armored glass cylinders filled with a viscous green fluid. Floating inside each vessel was the horribly mutilated corpse of what used to be a child. As Newt sank to his knees, reliving seeing his sister's body, Dog's jaw tightened. The bodies were horribly disfigured, abominations of the highest degree. A shriveled arm here; a leg twisted into something chitinous there; arms fused to the torso; desiccated vestigial limbs; even a body with the flesh of the neck and the jaw split open, revealing the insides of the airways. The horrors of this unassuming laboratory abounded.

Steeling himself, Dog helped Newt to his feet. Steadying the man on his feet, Dog led Newt deeper into the glorified abattoir. Finally, after a seeming eternity, Dog and Newt reached a sealed quarantine door that led to the inner-most of the secured labs. Bracing themselves for anything, the two ANBU agents opened the door. What they found though, was unlike anything they had imagined.

In the center of the room was a free-standing containment vessel. There, floating in the green fluids in the fetal position was a little girl with long, blonde hair and three dainty whisker marks on each cheek. At first glance, it would appear that she was garbed in a purple bodysuit with various tubes and wires leading to the top of the tank. However a closer inspection revealed that the bodysuit was actually a soft chitin, the fingers and toes tipped with black claws. A long talon sprouted from each heel, giving her the appearance of wearing high-heel shoes. The chitin covered the entire body, ending with a line of chitin on the jawline, leaving the rest of her face unblemished. On her shoulder blades was a pair of vent-like growths, a belch of gas-filled bubbles occasionally released from each one. From the small of the girl's back sprouted a pair of skeletal, bat-like wings with a clawed thumb and three 'fingers' that would reach to her knees should she be standing.

Dog slowly approached the tank. Reaching out, he slowly stroked his thumb over where the girl's chitin-covered jawline could be seen. "What did he do to you, Naruko?"

Sighing as Newt ransacked the room, Dog reached up to activate his radio. "Control, this is Dog. No sign of the target. We need a clean-up crew and a medical team at our location."

The radio hissed. "Roger that Dog. The cleaners and the medics will be sent out momentarily."

"Acknowledged." Dog paused, trying to moisten his dry mouth. "Also, inform the Hokage. The legacy of the Fourth has been found."

-CoB-

Hiruzen Sarutobi was tired. An old, wrinkled man with a grey goatee, the sixty-one year old would much prefer to spend his days sitting on his porch, smoking his pipe, and doting on his only grandson. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Following the death of his successor, Hiruzen was pulled out of retirement and reinstated as the Third Hokage of Konohagakure. There had been a reason he had retired when he had. He was getting tired, far too tired to deal with the politics that came with the job. Sadly, needs must, and the death of his dearest Biwako and the disappearance of his successor's secret daughter a week after her birth had hurt him. As such, the council that dealt with civilian affairs had gotten away with far more than they should. Fortunately, they still did not have any hooks sunk into shinobi affairs, thanks to the village elders Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane and Danzou Shimura.

Recently though, the news that his successor's legacy had been found had put a new pep in his step. Honestly, he hadn't felt this young in years. Still, the news of what his traitorous student had done to her had dampened the feeling slightly. Sighing, Hiruzen put down his paperwork and looked at the monumental pile of papers on his desk, then at the clock. Nodding at the time, Hiruzen stood up and left his office, his ANBU bodyguards following covertly.

Arriving at the hospital, Hiruzen immediately made his way to the secure wing where the dangerous, convict and potentially contagious patents were kept. Nodding at the jounin at the security desk, Hiruzen waited patiently for security to cycle him through. Unlike some leaders, the elderly Hokage knew how easy it was to steal a face, and so suffered through security procedures like anyone else. As the security doors slid open, Hiruzen entered and waited on the other side for his ANBU guards to be cleared through.

As soon as his guards had been cleared through, Hiruzen went straight for the quarantine bay where the most potentially dangerous or contagious inpatients were kept. Going through another thorough security checkpoint, Hiruzen entered the quarantine and containment lab.

Inside the lab, several technicians in white coats and goggles bustled around at various computer terminals and equipment stations. As Hiruzen entered, all the technicians, save a few working on sensitive projects, stopped and saluted. However, the Hokage paid them no attention. Instead, all he had eyes for was the quarantine and containment cell in the center of the lab. There, in the center of the cell, surrounded by technicians in hazardous material suits, was a little girl floating in a tank of green fluids.

"Hello sensei."

Hiruzen turned to his left. There next to him was a light-skinned woman of average height with brown eyes and straight, blonde hair. Hiruzen smiled as he took in the woman's waist-length hair with shoulder-length bangs framing both sides of her face, a small purple diamond tattooed in the center of her forehead, and overly generous bust. He knew this woman very well. "Hello Tsunade."

Tsunade Senju was the granddaughter of Hashirama Senju, the first Hokage and wielder of the wood release bloodline, and one of Hiruzen's former students. She was a bit of a gambler and, after the loss of her nephew and lover during the second Great War, somewhat of a heavy drinker. She was also a bit vain, as she took great care to look only half her age of forty-four. Despite her flaws though, there was no one who was as skilled a doctor as she.

"So," Hiruzen asked as he turned back to the Q&C cell. "How is she?"

"Well," Tsunade mused. "She's as well as can be expected, considering what the snake did to her. She's not contagious, if you were wondering."

Hiruzen looked aside at her. "Oh? So why is she still," he motioned at the containment vessel. "In there?"

Tsunade sighed as she jotted something down on a clipboard and handed it off to a technician. "Right now, we're checking her immune system. Making sure it is still up to the task of protecting her from contagions and the like after what happened to her." She looked at her old teacher. "It's a good thing your ANBU kept her in there when they found her. Swamp Country is well known for its mosquitoes and malaria."

A technician with black eyes and straight black hair approached Tsunade with a clipboard. "Lady Tsunade, the results from Naruko's immune system tests are incredible. I've never seen anything like it."

As Tsunade looked over the clipboard, Hiruzen addressed the technician. "Hello Shizune. How have you been?"

Shizune Kato, Tsunade's apprentice and niece to her late lover Dan Kato, blushed as such a powerful and famous man spoke to her. "Oh, I am well, thanks for asking."

Before he could speak further, Hiruzen's attention was caught by Tsunade's muttered "my god."

Hiruzen frowned. "Is there something the matter Tsunade?"

Tsunade shook her head. "No, far from it. Her immune system is the strongest I've ever seen. More so, her immune system appears to be actively adapting to whatever we throw at the samples we've taken."

The Hokage frowned. "I don't follow."

Shizune answered at Tsunade's prompting. "The human immune system could be described as reactionary. When a viral infection sets in, the immune system throws several different killer-T cells at the infected cells. Once one sticks, the immune system makes enough of it to allow the leukocytes to easily destroy the infection. After that, that particular type of killer-T cell will continue to be produced.

"Naruko's is far different. When we introduced a virus to one of the samples we took, it produced killer-T cells as is normal. However, when the T cells reached the infected cells, they didn't bounce off like they normally would. Instead, they actively changed to fit. Such a thing is unheard of!"

Tsunade nodded. "Well put Shizune. Well done." Tsunade looked back down at her notes. "Based on what we know, it would appear that Naruko's body is able to evolve in response to negative outside stimuli. It actually would explain more than it doesn't."

"Oh?"

"Indeed." Tsunade motioned the Hokage over to a computer monitor which showed the fleshy structures on Naruko's shoulder blades. "See these? Essentially organic heat vents. Since her chitin doesn't have pores or sweat glands, she needed some way to cool off. If we're correct about her being able to evolve, her body grew those on their own to protect her from overheating. Also, her hair is not actually hair, but actually segmented hollow tendrils made up of a bone-like substance and filled with an organic, non-newtonian fluid, most likely evolved to protect her from head trauma. The fluid only reacts to objects moving at high speeds, so it can still be cut like hair." She paused. "I'm not sure I want to know what Orochimaru did to get her to grow wings though."

Klaxons began to wail suddenly as red hazard lights flashed. A technician ran over to a monitor before spinning around as Hiruzen's ANBU guards jumped into place. "Sir! There's a massive build up of chakra inside the containment cell!"

Tsunade turned to see the containment vessel emitting a sickly red glow. "Get everyone out of there and close the blast shields!"

The last technician fled the containment cell, allowing Tsunade to activate the lockdown. The thick, heavy metal doors slid down just in time as the tank inside the containment cell exploded. The force of the blast was enough to knock everyone off their feet, even through the inch-thick metal blast shields.

Slowly, the blast shields lifted to reveal a chitin covered girl on her hands and knees before the shattered tank. Her limp hair and wings twitched sympathetically with each shuddering heave as her body purged her lungs of green bile.

As she knelt there wracked by dry-heaves, Tsunade went to the airlock leading to the containment cell. Shizune and Hiruzen's ANBU bodyguards moved to stop her, only for them to be barred by the Hokage's outstretched arm.

"Stop." Hiruzen glanced at the ANBU and the apprentice. "We don't know what her mental state is. Anything could set her off. And right now," Hiruzen dropped his arm and watched as Tsunade cycled through the lock. "Tsunade's the only one I trust to be able to subdue her safely should she prove to be hostile."

Cycling through the lock, Tsunade forewent the hazmat suit and approached the still heaving Naruko. Kneeling in front of the girl, Tsunade waited. Soon, Naruko stopped vomiting and looked up. Tsunade was enraptured by those bright, sky blue eyes.

She smiled. "Hello Naruko. I'm your godmother."

For a long moment, those baby-blue eyes bored into hers. It was as if the girl was looking deep into Tsunade's very soul. After what seemed to be an eternity, Naruko lunged forward, catching Tsunade and those watching off guard with her sheer speed. To everyone's shock though, Tsunade was embraced in a hug.

As the girl held her close with both arms and wings, Tsunade heard a whispered "thank you." Smiling softly, Tsunade returned the embrace as the chitin covered blond fell asleep in her arms.

**AN: The plot bunnies strike again! I fully blame starcraft's Heart of the Swarm DLC for this one.**


	2. Chapter 2

Naruko was in seventh heaven. It had taken a week, but Naruko had finally managed to convince granny Tsunade and old man Hiruzen to let her out of the lab. While her godmother had been easy to convince, the elderly Hokage was worried for her safety. He had finally acquiesced, but only under the condition that she be under the illusory transformation technique known as a henge. Naruko had readily agreed.

Looking like a normal, blonde girl, Naruko was in awe. She had been let out just in time to experience her first street festival. There was so much to do, so many things to see. She even won a large stuffed animal someone called a 'teddy.'

However, the joy was not to last. While the sights and sounds of the outside world were fascinating to someone who had been raised in a tank, it soon became too much. Everything began to run together. Voices, so many, so loud. Overwhelmed by the unfamiliar hustle and bustle, Naruko clasped her hands over her ears. No, she could still hear the voices. Screwing her eyes shut, Naruko fled the festival.

-CoB-

ANBU agent Capuchin cursed as he saw his charge clutch her hands to her ears. He'd seen that kind of reaction before—experienced it even—when using a flash-bang explosive. Strangely though, only Naruko was experiencing any pain. 'Most likely her senses are being overloaded,' justified Capuchin. It was no secret amongst the ANBU assigned to watch Naruko that her senses had been enhanced in some strange unquantifiable way. Now, it seemed those enhancements were causing the onset of an episode of some sort. Gathering himself to remove Naruko from the festival and calm her down without causing a panic, the ANBU blinked.

Capuchin froze. Naruko had vanished. One moment, she was there and the next, she was gone. Panicking, Capuchin felt out with his chakra. His panic grew when he couldn't find any trace of the girl. Forcing himself to calm down, Capuchin raced for the Hokage Tower. The Hokage must be informed!

-CoB-

Naruko came to a stop and dropped her hands. She sighed in relief. She couldn't hear the voices anymore. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a clearing somewhere. Surrounded by massive trees that would give a redwood a run for its money. There was a word for this. Fur? Furriest? Forrest? That was it! Forest! She was in a forest.

The blond looked around. There was no one there. Naruko began to put her hands together but stopped. She wasn't supposed to remove the henge until she got back to the lab. But there was no one there to see her, so, what harm could it do?

Shrugging, Naruko put her hands together into the ram hand sign: hands together vertically, pointer and middle finger of both hands upright with ring and pinky fingers bent and left hand over right. Pulsing some chakra, Naruko was engulfed by a puff of smoke. Sighing in relief, Naruko scratched at her chitin and flexed her wings. She really didn't like the henge. It made her feel all itchy and her wings all achy.

Finished with stretching out her kinks, Naruko decided to climb a nearby tree. Digging in with her claws, Naruko scaled the tree at speeds that would make a squirrel jealous. Reaching a large limb as thick as she was tall, Naruko ran down to the end and sat down. Balancing herself with minute and precise movements of her wings, Naruko let her legs swing freely as she marveled at the natural beauty of the outside world.

-CoB-

Hiruzen sighed as he went through the day's deluge of paperwork. Under normal circumstances, the old man would be swearing under his breath at 'the Kage's curse' and wishing the day was over so that he could relax. Today though, he was just worried about a certain chitinous blond.

Naruko was such a precocious child. Ever since she had woken up, so to speak, she had not stopped asking the scientists and ANBU guards questions. Strangely though, Naruko had questions of concepts that children growing up in an isolated environment would not have knowledge of. That and she had a highly evolved vocabulary for any five year-old. It was as if she had been taught by someone while she was in the tank. Which wasn't possible, as the records they had recovered stated that Naruko had been kept sedated at all times. So unless Orochimaru had a Yamanaka or some other mindwalker in his employ, which was still unlikely as no such thing had been used in any of his other experiments…

The elderly Hokage paused in mid signature. Perhaps she had contact with her prisoner, the Kyuubi? That was somewhat disconcerting, but not something he could idly inquire. He'd have to have Tenzou assigned to her. As the sole survivor of Orochimaru's successful attempts to transfer the first Hokage's wood manipulation abilities to someone, Tenzou was in the unenviable position of being able to relate to the girl. Plus, the First's abilities would allow him to quickly subdue Naruko should her tenant try to escape or take over.

Regardless of the reasons, Naruko was extremely intelligent and curious. It was only a matter of time before she grew bored of the grey walled lab. And of course, as any bored child will do, bugged and begged to be let outside. It had taken Hiruzen a week before he had acquiesced. To be honest, Hiruzen was reluctant to let her in public.

For well over a decade, orphans with shinobi potential had been disappearing from orphanages and clans alike. There had been investigations, but no evidence of just whom had been taking these children had come to light. However, a number of the disappeared had reappeared as Orochimaru's test subjects, including Naruko and Tenzou. As such, Naruko and Tenzou were to be protected, even as their potential was cultivated. Tenzou, for instance, had been hidden away and raised by a retired member of ANBU, eventually going through the academy and rising through the ranks to join ANBU.

That would not work with Naruko. For one, she no longer looked, well, normal. Secondly, immediately after the Kyuubi attack, someone had leaked the information that it had been sealed into her very soul. If her changes had not been so obvious, she might have been able to be left with a trustworthy family. Under normal circumstances, the civilians in charge of adoptions might have overlooked the name as coincidence. But with her arguably demonic appearance, someone would definitely make the connection. And that was the problem. She couldn't be hidden forever, and she couldn't keep a henge up forever either. Something would inevitably happen, and the girl's secret would be revealed, and Murphy's Law stated that it would happen in the worst possible manner.

The best thing to do would be to integrate her into Konohagakure as the founder of a new bloodline clan. It would protect her from the civilians, as well as anyone who would try to turn her into little more than a baby farm. The only problem with that was that anyone wishing to register a new clan in Konoha needed to have the support of an existing clan. The only problem was which clan to approach to sponsor her? His clan, the Sarutobi clan, couldn't do it, as the bylaws prohibited the clan the current Hokage belonged to from participating.

Hiruzen's train of thought was broken abruptly as an ANBU agent came barreling through the window, sending a rain of shattered glass to the office floor. Hiruzen's blood chilled as he recognized the ANBU he had assigned to watch Naruko for the day.

Capuchin immediately recovered and quickly gave his report. "Sir! Witnessed the primary in the beginnings of a panic attack due to crowd. Went to remove her from the situation. I blinked and she was gone!"

Hiruzen shot to his feet. "Gather the ANBU captains, now!"

-CoB-

Naruko turned her head at a buzz in her ear and blinked. There hovering a hand's breadth away from her face was a beetle. She looked at it curiously. It was small, about the size of her thumb-nail…claw…thing. It had six legs, the front pair looking like razor sharp swords. Its abdomen was bulbous and orange and it had a jagged, segmented exoskeleton, which to be honest, was nearly the same shade of purple as her own chitin. If she didn't know any better, she would say that the beetle looked curious.

_What are you? You are of the tall-ones, yet are not. Nor are you food-prey._

Naruko blinked and looked around. "Who said that?"

The beetle rocked back, as if in surprise. _You understood-heard us? How? You are not of the living-hives._

Naruko turned back to the beetle in shock. "Was-was that you?"

_Indeed. Again we'll ask-inquire; how can you understand-hear us?_

The blonde bit her lip. "I-I don't know. I didn't always used to be like this." Naruko held out a clawed finger and let the beetle land on it. "What are you?"

_We are kikkaichu. We are the swarm._

"Kikkaichu?" Naruko remembered one of the scientists taught her about those. Bugs that lived in the…um…apartment clan? No, that didn't sound right. The Aburame clan: that was it! "You live in the Aburame clan?"

_Once, but no more-longer._

Naruko frowned. That…didn't sound good. "What happened?"

The kikkaichu opened its elytra and buzzed over to Naruko's shoulder. _Several-many birthing cycles ago, a dark-thing not-swarm attacked our living-hive. We consumed-devoured the dark-thing not-swarm. Our living-hive died, our swarm changed-evolved, became like the dark-thing not-swarm. No longer compatible with the living-swarms. Swarm should now wither-die without living-hive, but we do not. It is…strange._

"That's so sad." Naruko drooped as she understood the beetle's words. However, its next words shocked her. _You have several-many parasites-vermin in your carapace. We shall remove them._

Naruko blinked as a literal swarm of kikkaichu came out of nowhere and converged on her. As the swarm began to crawl over her, Naruko shrieked with laughter. It tickled!

Finally, after a seeming eternity of giggling and shrieking, the kikkaichu stopped cleaning her carapace. Hiccupping happily from the after affects of the endorphins brought on by the tickling, Naruko sat up. "Hee hee! That tickled! Do it again!"

One of the beetles (somehow, Naruko knew it to be the same one that she had been talking with before) addressed the giggly girl as the rest vanished back into the woodwork. _You are not compatible-attuned with the swarm, yet there is a link-bond. Should you ever need-require assistance-help, call, and the swarm shall answer-respond._

As the last of the kikkaichu vanished, Naruko yawned. She was very tired suddenly. Stretching as another, jaw-cracking yawn wracked her body, Naruko curled up on the tree limb and fell into a deep slumber as a single ethereal feather landed next to her.

Shortly thereafter, a man in a trenchcoat dropped down onto the limb, the light of the day reflecting off a tassel hanging from his dark glasses. Interestingly, the spiky, black-haired man was holding a large teddy bear. Arching an eyebrow at the girl's unusual appearance, the man stooped over and picked her up. A soft smile warped his Fu Manchu style mustache as the sleeping girl curled up around the teddy bear that was half as big as she was. Shaking his head in amusement, the man vanished in a swirl of leaves.

-CoB-

Hiruzen Sarutobi was in full blown crisis mode. His office was a madhouse as he gave the gathered ANBU their marching orders. "Dog, you will take your squad and search the northern quarters." The wild silver haired man that was Dog nodded and stepped back. "Tora, you will take your squad and search the western forests." A man in a cat mask gave a crisp salute. Hiruzen took a deep breath. "You all have your assignments. Any questions?"

"Did I come at a bad time?"

Everyone in the room turned woodenly to see clan head Shibi Aburame holding the very girl they had been scrambled for to find. Sighing in relief, Hiruzen dismissed the gathered ANBU and sagged in his chair. Shakily, he lit his pipe and puffed. Breathing deeply as the calming herbs mixed in with the tobacco burned, Hiruzen addressed Shibi. "Thank you Shibi. We were going spare."

Shibi shook his head, Naruko grumbling sleepily as he carefully lay her on the office couch. "It was of no inconvenience. I found the little bug in one of our high-security zones where we keep a particularly tenacious feral swarm. At first, I thought she was an infiltrator, from the Kamizuru clan of Iwa, perhaps. It wasn't until I put her to sleep with a genjutsu that I realized the intruder was just a little girl and connected her with the stuffed animal I had found earlier. As she has a strange bloodline the likes of which I have never seen, I believed that it was prudent to bring her straight to you." Shibi gave a wry smile that was hidden by the high collar of his trench coat. "It would appear that my decision was the right one."

Hiruzen nodded. "It was." The old man gave the clan head a quick briefing on Naruko's situation. "If you hadn't arrived when you did, I would have had to send out the ANBU on a search and rescue. Such a deployment would have brought inconvenient questions better answered at a later time."

The Aburame clan head gazed at Naruko and then Hiruzen speculatively. "Ahh, I see, you were going to advocate the creation of a new bloodline clan. Very well, the Aburame clan will sponsor her."

The elderly Hokage blinked, then put his pipe down. "While I thank you Shibi, I must know: How did you know, and why do you wish to sponsor her, just like that?"

Shibi smiled faintly. "Well, I'm no Shikaku Nara, but I am not a fool. As for the why, well, I am intrigued. I believe that she can converse with our kikkaichu, which would make her and any descendents ideal allies for the clan."

"I see." Hiruzen slumped down in his seat. "Great, something else to protect her for. Now I've got to get Inoichi to take a look at her." Ceasing his muttering, Hiruzen shook his head. "Thank you Shibi. You may go now."

Bowing in deference, Shibi left through the door. Hiruzen sighed, kneading his temples. Picking up his pipe, the old Hokage contemplated the slumbering girl wrapped around a teddy bear on his couch. "Oh Naruko. You're proving to be just as much a handful as your mother. What am I going to do with you?"

-CoB-

INTERLUDE

Five years before, Sarah Kerrigan stared out the mouth of her leviathan at the smattering of stars that inhabited the sector of space known only as the Void. The Zerg, a hive-minded insectile race of which she was the overmind to, was on their way to face off against Amon, the last member and exile of the ancient Xel-Naga race.

Sarah took a deep breath. As a former human, or terran in the colloquial, Sarah brought to the swarm that which had been lacking: vision. With that vision, and the Zerg, Sarah Kerrigan had laid waste to several planets. But now they prepared for their fight against Amon. Should they fall, the Xel-Naga criminal would be able to destroy all sentient life in the universe as he had planned for so very long.

As she stood there, connected with all the minds of all the Zerg, Kerrigan paused. There was a new connection to the swarm, one she had not authorized or ordered. It felt…caustic, causing her bony dreadlocks to bristle and her skeletal wings to twitch.

Snarling, Kerrigan threw her mind down the intruding link, intent on making the intruder to the swarm regret their mistake personally. Immediately upon breaching the barriers between minds, Sarah found herself alone in a mindscape that manifested as a dank sewer. Confused, expecting to be confronted by the mind's owner, Sarah cast around, only to find nothing. As she stood there, the Queen of Blades felt a pull, the same caustic feeling that had brought her here in the first place. Curious, the Zerg queen followed.

Soon, the Queen of Blades found herself in a spacious cavern, face-to-face with a massive, orange furred creature of old Earth, a fox with nine billowing tails locked behind a slip of paper. Separated by metal bars the size of brutalisks, the two creature's eyes met. As the two eldritch beings stared at each other their minds connected for a brief instance. But that was all that was needed. Kerrigan turned away from the Kyuubi—she would not use his name as a sign of respect for his power—and turned her attention to the pulsating mass in the center of the cavern.

Floating in the center of the mass was the mental representation of a little girl, no more than a toddler. Sarah frowned at the child, her little body wracked by cancerous growths of Zerg flesh. Thanks to the Kyuubi, Kerrigan knew that this little girl was the only survivor of a madman's experiment. Though the Kyuubi had undone much of the damage done by rampant genetics, the essence of the Zerg was tenacious. It would not be long before the cancers overwhelmed the Kyuubi's regenerative abilities. Perhaps she should end her suffering?

Kerrigan's humanity—restored by her former lover Jim Raynor—came to the forefront. No. She would save this child.

Sarah stared intently at the mass of barely breathing flesh before her. While the Queen of Blades was capable of spinning and weaving the essence of the Zerg, this required an expert. Sighing in resignation, Sarah took a breath. "Abathur!"

Next to Kerrigan materialized a spidery, spindly thing with a hunched back covered in glowing green pustules. Abathur, evolution master of the Zerg swarm, looked around. "Hmm. Primitive mindscape. Terran sewer. Possibly represents—"

"Not now Abathur," Kerrigan interrupted the grey Zerg without looking at him. "There is work to be done."

Abathur peered at the pulsating mass before him. The vertical orifice that was his mouth quivered in disgust. "Substandard sequence spinning. Sloppy. Guess work. Too much pain, cause madness, premature death. Much work needed to recover. No viable benefit. Recommend termination."

Kerrigan shook her head. "Just like Zagara, you lack vision Abathur. What I see, is a chance for the Zerg to survive, should we fall against Amon."

The evolution master was unconvinced. "Explain."

"This child resides on a planet far from the Koprulu Sector, possibly one of the Lost Colonies. And like me, she is a child of prophecy. Should the swarm fall, the Zerg will live on in her."

Abathur stared at Kerrigan for a long moment. "Very well. Benefits outweigh costs." The Zerg pit master began his work. "Spinning sequences. Refining Zerg essence. Repairing genetic damage. Queen of Blades template most efficient for this form. Commencing."

As the Zerg evolution master began to repair the damage done to the little girl's genome, Sarah fondled one of her bone dreadlocks. One of the things she missed the most from before her transformation was her soft, fiery red hair. It had been one of the few vanities she had fostered. "Abathur. Try to keep her hair as close in looks to terran hair. They'll be more likely to accept her that way."

"Acknowledged. Spinning Primal essence from Queen of Blades into sequence."

Sarah frowned as she drew a clawed hand across her stomach. Her essence would make this girl the closest thing she'd ever have to a flesh-and-blood daughter, since her initial transformation into the Queen of Blades had left her barren. It was not something she'd wish on a child. "Abathur. Ensure she remains fertile so that she may breed with the local terrans." Oh lord, she sounded so cold. She hated how talking to Abathur brought out that side of her. "Ensure that the Zerg essence will always remain the dominant trait over subsequent generations."

Abathur didn't even pause. "Complying. Presence of an internal biological energy. Incompatible with swarm. Enhancing control with spun-in overlord essence. Presence of a second energy with caustic properties discovered. Spinning in Roach resistance to extreme heat and corrosion to compensate." Abathur paused and turned to Kerrigan slightly. "Psionic potential awoken by Zerg essence."

Kerrigan nodded. "Keep working Abathur. I will handle it."

Ignoring Abathur as he continued to manipulate the girl's genome, Sarah reached out with her own potent psychic abilities and connected with the toddler's developing mind. Sending soothing feelings over the bond, Sarah searched out the centers of the brain where psionic abilities originated. Taking a deep breath, the Queen of Blades suppressed the girl's psychic abilities with a block that would degrade over time. It would fully release when she was of age. Nodding at her handy-work, Sarah went to where instinctual behavior was stored, adding the psionic control exercises she had to those instincts. Metaphorically stepping back, Kerrigan was satisfied that the now instinctual psionic control would prevent the girl's power from overwhelming her.

'Stepping out' from the girl's developing psyche, Kerrigan turned her attention to Abathur. "Well?"

Abathur toiled on for a few moments, before withdrawing two spindly limbs tipped with glowing green glands from the mass before him. "It is done. Chrysalis not needed. Containment vessel adequate substitute. Warning, full integration of Zerg essence will take four to five terran years."

Kerrigan sighed. "I shall set a trigger for her psionics to free her once it is complete." She waved a hand at the evolution master. "You may go, Abathur."

As the spidery Zerg vanished from the mindscape, Kerrigan turned to see the caged Kitsune emerge from the shadows. "When I leave, I shall remove her connection to the swarm to prevent Amon from finding her. Do not," Kerrigan threatened. "Make me regret allowing you to live, creature."

The Kyuubi no Yoko gave a sharp smile, revealing razor teeth the size of small cars. "I wouldn't dream of it."

With a single gimlet stare, The Queen of Blades vanished, leaving the kitsune alone with a pulsating mass of flesh. Grinning toothily, the Kyuubi curled up and closed his eyes, leaving one cracked open to stare at the mental representation of a chrysalis. "I'm having too much fun."

**AN: And, that's a second chapter. Let me know what you think of the interlude and whatnot.  
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